


A lesson in fact checking

by YouSetTheTone



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Lucy makes a brief appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-17 21:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15470340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouSetTheTone/pseuds/YouSetTheTone
Summary: Cat visits Kara's office, finds something unexpected, and jumps to conclusions.





	A lesson in fact checking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writetherest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/gifts).



> I had the hardest time writing from Cat's POV and also had major writer's block. It's not as well developed as I had planned but I'm just glad I managed to get this out on time. 
> 
> I hope it's still enjoyable :) 
> 
> Prompt: Cat is jealous, which causes her to reveal her feelings. Maybe of Lucy? Or someone else
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @youwritethetone

She hadn’t meant to snoop.

Going to Kara’s office was a habit she had developed over the last few months. Losing Kara as her assistant had not been easy, not because she was good at her job – although Cat certainly regretted that loss – but because she missed her.

Cat chuckled at the thought.

When she’d first hired Kara, she’d known she was special. She’d seen the professional potential, the girl who’d managed to surprise her for the first time in a long time. What she had failed to see was Kara, the woman, who would get Cat to open up. The woman Cat would trust with Carter and trust to mend her relationship with Adam.

She’d missed their talks and the way Kara always knew what she needed whenever one of the department screwed up or when the board was being difficult.

The first time she’d showed up in Kara’s office was a month after she promoted her. They’d been scooped by the Daily Planet, her mother had called to say she would be in town, and on top of that, the AC had broken down making the office feel like a furnace.

She’d needed a break and Kara’s windowless office provided the perfect hiding place. 6 months later and the visits had become a regular occurrence.

So, today Cat hadn’t even thought about it and had gone straight to Kara’s office after ending a rather unpleasant call with Maxwell Lord.

Kara hadn’t been there, no doubt out on a Supergirl emergency (that particular secret hadn’t stayed a secret for long) She’d usually show up later and smile when she’d found Cat sitting on her small sofa. Cat had had no reason that today would be out of the ordinary.

Until 15 minutes after she went to Kara’s office, she looked through the desk drawers for one of her pair of glasses she knew Kara kept there.

She had found her glasses alright. The small velvety black box next to them had, however, been expected. She’d stared at the offending object and then had tentatively reached out. She’d barely touched it before retrieving her hand as if she'd been burned. She’d hastily retreated to her own office and had asked her assistant not to be bothered for any reason.

Now, sitting on her balcony, already two drinks in, Cat was wondering what bothered her more: that she hadn’t known that Kara was dating someone – seriously dating – and she hadn’t known or that she was dating someone at all.

If she was completely honest, it was both.

It wasn’t James, that much she knew. To her surprise, their relationship had fizzled out almost as soon as it had started. She was also fairly certain it wasn’t Winslow.

Good lord, she hoped it wasn’t that misogynist moron of an intern Kara had insisted she hired. Cat wrinkled her nose in disgust. No, it couldn’t. Kara surely had better taste than that.

Whoever it was, Cat shouldn’t have been surprised. Kara being Kara, it was only a matter of time before she found someone who made her happy. Despite her own feelings, Cat wouldn’t get in the way of that.

She’d decided a long time ago that she wouldn’t act on them for various reasons. One, Kara had still been her assistant, it would have been bad for both of them. There had been rumors but most people at Catco had kept their mouth shut because Kara had made their lives easier by being so good at her job. Anything more than rumors, however, would have been far more destructive.

Cat had seen it clearly. She would have been torn down by the rest of the media. Kara would have lost all credibility, her future career surely ruined. Cat wouldn’t let so much potential go to waste because she’d been stupid enough to fall for her assistant.

Her reasons for not saying anything once Kara was promoted and once the stakes weren’t so high anymore were less complicated. She was scared. Not that Cat would admit that out loud.

Despite their growing friendship, she couldn’t imagine Kara returning her feelings and Cat valued Kara’s friendship too much to attempt anything that could ruin it. And that included admitting her feelings and now, not being supportive of Kara’s engagement. Unless, of course, it was the aforementioned Matt or Mick or whatever name he had that Cat hadn’t bothered to remember).

 

* * *

_“Ms. Grant, what are you doing here?”_

_“Your office is the only place in the building that doesn’t feel like the Sahara.”_

_“I-I don’t see what you mean.”_

_“Oh would you relax Kara, I only need a break. I’m not here to ask question. Although keep this up and someone eventually might.”_

* * *

 

Her resolve to be supportive was tested a few days later when she saw a smiling Lucy Lane coming out of the same office Cat was headed to.

“Well, well, well. Did you come here to get your job back ?”

Cat knew very well that it wasn’t the case. According to Lois, Lucy was perfectly happy working with the DEO, much to the dismay of her father. But Lucy looked suspiciously happy and the thought that she could be the mysterious person Kara had been dating crossed her mind. 

“Sorry, Cat, but no. I had something to discuss with Kara,” Lucy answered, which did nothing to reassure Cat.

 “Really?” she asked, perhaps a little bit too harshly. “Is the world ending again?”

An odd look crossed Lucy’s face but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, only to be replaced by a small smirk, like she knew something Cat didn't.

 “Actually, it was a personal call,” Lucy said. “National City isn’t under any threat at the moment. The public has no reason to worry.”

Maybe not. But Cat certainly had. She didn’t like the way Lucy had emphasized on the word personal and how she seemed entirely too pleased with herself. That said, Cat feared she had already exposed herself too much and doing nothing but graciously accept this answer would tip off Lucy even more (and if she was indeed dating Kara, it would certainly have disastrous consequences).

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a company to run.”

She went back to her office, hoping Lucy wouldn’t pay attention to the fact that Cat had obviously been heading for Kara’s office – the only one in the corridor – but had ended up turning around before reaching her destination.

Lucy. Why had Cat not thought of her? It made sense after all, they were working together, and defeating murderous aliens would certainly make two people grow closer together.

Cat’s suspicions seemed to be confirmed in the following days, as Lucy visited Kara three more times. She wasn’t spying but it seemed Kara and Lucy were not hiding their relationship anymore. She’d seen them have coffee in the break room on her way to the marketing department, and then coming out of the elevator after they had lunch at Noonan’s (Eve had mentioned seeing them when she’d gone to fetch Cat’s lunch).

The last straw, however, came today when she saw the two of them hug on the balcony that overlooked the park. Jealousy was an ugly emotion and Cat had no patience for it. Yet, every time she saw them together, Cat felt that twinge of envy. It wasn’t _that_ long ago that she was the one hugging Kara on that particular balcony

To make it all worse, Kara still had not said anything to Cat. She’d kept going to Cat’s office every evening to wish Cat a good night and sometimes chat, but no words on her engagement. She was acting as if nothing major had happened in her life at all. And with every passing day, it hurt more and more to see Kara, who even after all this time seemed not to trust her.

It was with that in mind that Cat made the decision to give Kara space and stop going to her office, her balcony becoming once again her sole place for hiding from the world.

 

* * *

_“Cat ?”_

_“Kara.”_

_“I’m heading home. Do you need me to do anything before leaving?”_

_“It’s not your job anymore, Kara. You don’t have to keep asking.”_

_“I know. But just because I’m not your assistant anymore doesn’t mean I can’t try to make your llife easier when I can. Isn’t that what friends are for?”_

* * *

 

“I miss the view from here.”

Cat jumped slightly at the sound of Kara’s voice and turned around quickly. Kara was standing still, a hand on the balocny's sliding door, and looking more hesitant than she had in a long time. Cat shifted almost imperceptibly, and Kara took it as an invitation to come and stand next to Cat, both watching the lights of the city.

Avoiding Kara hadn’t been easy. She missed going to that stupid windowless office and working quietly with Kara by her side. With each passing day, Cat’s mood had slowly become worse, meaning she had zero patience for any mistake, no matter how tiny it was, her employees made. Eve had had to do a lot of damage control, even calling Kara to the rescue a few times, which only made things worse. It was usually not surprising for the office to empty itself faster on Friday night, but today everyone on the floor had made sure to leave promptly at 5pm. Cat had assumed Kara had done the same.

“It’s late. Shouldn’t you be home or out having fun with your friends ?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Kara answered. “Isn’t it your weekend with Carter?”

Leave it to Kara to be the kind of person to still remember Carter’s schedule.

“He’s at a friend’s tonight.” She was so proud of him for making friends but it meant the penthouse was empty tonight, and she had no desire to go back to an empty home tonight when she could at least try to get more work done byt staying at Catco longer. “Why are you here, Kara?”

“I haven't seen you in a while and every time I tried to talk to you this week, Eve said you were not to be disturbed.”

“It’s been a busy week.”

“Has it really, Cat?" Kara asked, turning slightly to look at Cat.

“What are you implying ?”

Kara sighed at Cat’s harsh tone. “It just…It feels like you’re avoiding me and I want to know if I’m imagining things or not. So, am I, Cat ?”

Cat could do many things but lying to Kara, especially when she seemed so sad, wasn’t one of them. She held Kara’s gaze but didn’t say anything. It took Kara only a few seconds to understand and she swallowed hard before looking down at her feet.

“I see,” Kara said when she raised her head again. “Can I ask why?”

“I needed space,” was the best thing Cat could think of saying without actually revealing the real reasons.

Kara frowned. “I’m not sure I understand why but if you needed space – space from me – why didn’t you just tell me. I thought we were friends.”

Somehow, hearing Kara say that, finally made Cat snap. Yes, she thought they were friends too and friends told each other when they were engaged.

“Damn it, Kara, I found the ring!” Cat said and Kara almost automatically started to argue but Cat saw her stop almost as soon as she’d opened her mouth and the look of confrontation was replaced by a look of confusion.

“What?”

“Really, Kara? You being super and all I thought you'd have heard me just fine.”

“I heard you, Cat.” Kara said. “But I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Tiny black box with a ring in it. Top left drawer of your desk,” Cat explained. “Tell me, where you planning on ever telling me you were getting engaged?”

The last thing Cat had expected to see next was a smile. They’d just been very close to having a fight, Cat was feeling rather embarrassed by her outburst, and Kara was smiling. Cat cleared her throat in a vain attempt at getting rid of the emotions Kara’s amusement were causing.

“I clearly was wrong about many things. I think it would be best if you left now, Keira.”

It only made Kara smile wider.

“I'm not engaged.”

“What ?”

“I’m pretty sure you heard me, Cat,” Kara teased, echoing Cat’s earlier words. “The ring, it’s Alex's. Or at least it will be. Lucy’s planning on proposing and she didn’t want Alex to find the ring. And since Alex rarely visits me here, she thought it would be best if I kept it for her.”

Oh. _Oh._ That explained Lucy’s frequent visits in the past week. Kara had probably been helping her planning the proposal.

Well, that was embarrassing. And Cat had once all of her emails hacked and published.

“Then let me know when it’s done, so I know to congratulate Baby Lane and your sister,” Cat said, trying to evade further questions, knowing that she’d already said too much. “I think I should head home now,” she added, heading back to her office only to have Kara stop her by grabbing her wrist. Her grip wasn’t strong at all – she knew Kara was very cautious with her strength – and Cat could have easily escaped it but Kara’s touch, even something as small as a hand on her arm, was hard to resist.

“I will. I only have one question,” Kara said. “What does this have to do with you avoiding me ?”

Shit.

“You’re smart, Kara. Figure it out.”

Kara came up behind her, her chest brushing with Cat’s back, and, in that moment, Cat was sure her heartrate tripled.

“Yeah…but I’d like to hear it from you,” she whispered in Cat’s ear.

 “Why, Kara? So, I can be even more embarrassed? So you can let me down gently?” she said. “Fine. I’m a walking cliché. I fell for my young assistant and the thought of you marrying someone made me go half insane. Is that what you want to hear?”

 “God, Cat…” Kara breathed out, as she gently turned Cat around and reached a hand up to cradle her face. “I never could have imagined you felt the same way.”

“Kara…”

“If that’s okay with you, I’m going to kiss you now," Kara cut her off and Cat let out a small laugh.

“If you don’t, I’m throwing you off this balcony.”

Kara rolled her eyes playfully.

“I can fly you know,” she said.

“Yes, yes, it’s one of your many extraordinary capabilities but does one of them happens to be kissing ? Because I’m still waiting.”

Kara leaned in and, just before capturing Cat's lips with her own, whispered, "You tell me."

 

* * *

_"It was a beautiful wedding."_

_"I'm glad Alex and Lucy found each other. They looked really happy."_

_"They did."_

_"Remember when you thought I was dating Lucy?"_

_"Oh, shut up."_


End file.
